Author: Mubashshir Salik

Donald Trump on the sidelines in France where he attended the re-opening of a change of direction of U.S. involvement in helping NATO and Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at the OSCE conference in Malta. The Russian take the signaling of the European and U.S. as concerning. Trump is perceived as the rising star on the foreign affair domain as a tough negotiator. The toughness becomes evident with the former Lithuanian prime minister becoming the first dedicated defense commissioner this month, tasked with turbocharging Europe’s defense industry and the stuttering push to…

The internet business has all the trappings of false advertisement. Quick riches and easy bucks. But what is not clear is the hijacking of your intellectual property by refusal to release the accounts is unheard. Offender par excellence Godaddy.com with its new “customer care” department. Despite flashy customer-oriented software, with all the bells and whistles, since the company going public and killing the racing queens from the program, the customer service culture has deteriorated. Hours of long waiting, bot generated responses and rude staffing cutting off the inquiries is the norm. The Indian located call center is described as the…

China saw Israel’s war in Gaza as an opportunity to gain traction in the Middle East at the expense of the United States, but is it ready to become a serious political actor in the region? China’s deepening engagement in the Middle East, particularly its potential to rival the influence of the United States, has become a focal point of international discourse. In recent years, China has transitioned its primary focus from securing energy resources to emerging as a leading provider of infrastructure and technology across the region. This shift, coupled with Beijing’s role in facilitating the 2023 rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia,…

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Russia had to take steps to protect itself, after being asked about Russia lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike, adding NATO should review the Russian statement carefully. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks, and Moscow said Ukraine had struck deep inside Russia with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles. Erdogan told a press conference in Brazil after a G20 summit that Turkey had to maintain good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, and that it would continue to…

Everything resembles a thriller novel. Early one morning in December last year, after months of undercover investigation and wiretapping, Belgian police officers raided dozens of locations across Brussels. Over the next 3 days, in apartments, hotel rooms and offices, they seized laptops, mobile phones and nearly 1.5 million euros in cash. The following week, 4 people were arrested on corruption charges, including 2 representatives, a former member of parliament and a current member of the European Parliament. Antonio Panzeri, a retired MEP from Italy, who eventually admitted that he was the mastermind of the corruption scheme. Meanwhile, Eva Kaili, vice-president of the…

Ukraine lost more than 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it captured in a surprise offensive in August with the Russians launching multiple counter-attacks, a senior source in Kyiv’s army said. While the Kursk invasion caught Moscow unprepared, Russian forces are still steadily advancing in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source said. The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed some 59,000 troops to…

It was bitter cold, but I don’t remember freezing or being cold. Hemingway wrote that the air was so cold when you took a breath it was like drinking water. We travelled by train, then we walked through the cold streets, no bus was running, we had to hustle to catch the last ride up the mountain, then it was up to the mountain, bundled up in two thick woolen blankets with the snow showering us. It was warm looking out of the peep hole I created, flying up the mountains sitting on the last ride of the day. The…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said it is time to rekindle diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. But both foreign and domestic responses to his proposal have been rather muted. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been trying to rekindle diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine© Thomas Kierok/ZDF/dpa/picture alliance In the halls of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, it would appear the time for re-doubled diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine has come. In an interview with the German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “I believe that now is the moment when…

While Alberto Fujimori was hailed for crushing a leftist insurgency and boosting the economy, he was convicted of gross human rights abuses. Peru has bid an emotional farewell to its divisive ex-president Alberto Fujimori after three days of national mourning marked by expressions of nostalgia for his iron-fisted rule. Fujimori was revered by many in Peru for crushing a bloody leftist insurgency and helping shore up the economy while in office from 1990 to 2000. He “had the guts to fight terrorism,” said Edgar Grados, a 43-year-old businessman, who travelled more than 100 kilometres to attend the funeral. “Fujimorism never dies,”…

Women’s clothes are high on the government’s agenda once again in Tajikistan, where authorities and Islamic leaders are working on new guidelines on what women should wear to work and during their leisure time. The new dress code — the second of its kind in six years — is expected to be made public in the coming days, and a special event is reportedly being planned for the capital, Dushanbe, in August to showcase compliant clothes. Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the head of the state Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, told a press briefing in the capital this week that…